1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a device and method for adding information on the outer surface of articles, such as containers in a container filling plant.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine, which is often a rotary filling machine, with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material.
A wide variety of types of filling elements are used in filling machines in beverage bottling or container filling plants for dispensing a liquid product into bottles, cans or similar containers, including but not limited to filling processes that are carried out under counterpressure for the bottling of carbonated beverages. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine.
After a filling process has been completed, the filled beverage bottles are transported or conveyed to a closing machine, which is often a rotary closing machine. A revolving or rotary machine comprises a rotor, which revolves around a central, vertical machine axis. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. A transporting or conveying arrangement can utilize transport star wheels as well as linear conveyors. A closing machine closes bottles by applying a closure, such as a screw-top cap or a bottle cork, to a corresponding bottle mouth. Closed bottles are then usually conveyed to an information adding arrangement, wherein information, such as a product name or a manufacturer's information or logo, is applied to a bottle. A closing station and information adding arrangement may be connected by a corresponding conveyer arrangement. Bottles are then sorted and packaged for shipment out of the plant.
Many beverage bottling plants may also possibly comprise a rinsing arrangement or rinsing station to which new, non-return and/or even return bottles are fed, prior to being filled, by a conveyer arrangement, which can be a linear conveyor or a combination of a linear conveyor and a starwheel. Downstream of the rinsing arrangement or rinsing station, in the direction of travel, rinsed bottles are then transported to the beverage filling machine by a second conveyer arrangement that is formed, for example, by one or more starwheels that introduce bottles into the beverage filling machine.
It is a further possibility that a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can be controlled by a central control arrangement, which could be, for example, a computerized control system that monitors and controls the operation of the various stations and mechanisms of the beverage bottling plant.
In some beverage bottling plants, an information adding station comprises devices or machines that work in clocked cycles for the direct imprinting of containers, in particular in the form of glass or plastic bottles, for example to apply information and/or advertising so that it is permanent and cannot be detached from the container. The information adding is generally done either using a screen-printing process or by pad printing.
Containers in terms of the present application are, in at least one possible embodiment, packaging means, in the form of containers, for the most varied types of liquid products and in this case, in at least one possible embodiment of the present application, also bottles or bottle-type containers or cans or can-like containers. Printing inks in terms of the present application are those colors or inks, in at least one possible embodiment, in lightly viscous liquid form that can be processed with print heads that are digitally actuatable and operate according to the ink jet print head principle.
Consequently, print heads in terms of the present application are, in at least one possible embodiment, print heads that have a plurality of print nozzles for discharging the printing ink, for example in at least one row, and that are individually actuatable for discharging the printing ink and, for this purpose, have a print generating element at the respective nozzle opening, for example in the form of an electrode of a piezo element.
Devices for printing containers by using print heads that operate according to the ink jet print head principle and with relative movement between the print heads and the respective containers are known. In the case of a some existing devices, during the printing process the containers are each positioned on a mandrel in the form of a container support. A plurality of print heads are provided distributed about the mandrel, with which print heads, when the mandrel is rotated, a colored printed image, consisting of a plurality of color sets, is applied to the respective container. The mandrels are provided on a rotatably driven transport element, with which, during the printing, the containers are moved on a transport section formed between a container inlet and a container outlet.